


Siren Call

by vix_spes



Category: X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Angst, Character Study, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-28
Updated: 2013-01-28
Packaged: 2017-11-27 07:13:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,729
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/659300
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vix_spes/pseuds/vix_spes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Erik thinks about Charles and the hold that the other man has on him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Siren Call

Erik wonders when and how he managed to fall into this life of domesticity at the house, sorry mansion, in Westchester. Oh, who is he kidding, he knows exactly how he fell into this life and it’s all down to his seeming inability to resist a pair of huge, impossibly blue eyes. Those eyes were like a siren call, particularly when combined with the rest of the package that was Charles Xavier. A siren call that Erik had been helpless to resist. They had fallen into bed while on their road trip finding mutants for the CIA and whilst it had been enjoyable, Erik had thought that there was nothing more to it. He had first started to wonder if he had let himself in for more than he had expected in the club when Charles had called him darling, even if it was under ridiculous circumstances. Despite the nights that they had spent together, Erik had been willing to walk away from Charles, from all of the children as soon as he had his hands on the CIA’s files about Shaw. Something about Charles’ words, particularly the ‘it's not just me you are walking away from’ had made him turn back, made him follow the smaller man back into the CIA base.

He couldn’t bring himself to regret his actions, even though he felt that they were doing too little. The whole lifestyle at Westchester had chafed on him at first, it was so different from what he was used to, the way that he had lived a frugal lifestyle crossing the globe on his search for Nazis. His search for Shaw. It had surprised him how quickly he had settled in to life there. He enjoyed helping the children access their powers and develop them, he was thrilled to test and develop his own abilities. Possibly what he enjoyed the most was spending time with Charles. 

Charles, who gave so much and asked for so little in return, Charles, who had thrown himself into freezing seas to save somebody that he didn’t know. Charles, who had helped Erik access memories of his mama that he had never thought he would remember again, who had reminded Erik of his humanity. Charles, who had a doctorate in genetics yet acted like a child who had just been told he could visit Santa at the North Pole when allowed to play the part of a lab rat and test Cerebro for the first time. Charles, who had suffered more from his family than he ever let on yet could still believe in and see the best in people, be they human or mutant. 

There were times when he wondered how he had gone from wandering the globe in search of Nazis spending his evenings gathering information on where he needed to go next to spending his evenings playing chess with Charles or sat in the library. The number of times that he had felt as though he were being watched only to look up to see Charles watching him with a fond gaze and a warm smile. What he tried so desperately to ignore was the number of times that he found himself watching Charles.

Things had progressed from there, into this domesticity that he now found himself in. They had kept this thing, whatever it was between them, behind closed doors at first both out of necessity and out of their own desires. The CIA were leery enough having mutants in their building but having two male mutants who were involved with each other sexually? That was just asking for trouble. Even once they had left the CIA and moved into Charles’ home in Westchester they had still kept it to themselves; the group was still reeling from Darwin’s death as well as Angel’s defection and they didn’t want something revealed that could possibly make a potentially volatile situation explode. 

As things became more comfortable, as everybody grew used to living with each other, Charles in particular lost more of his inhibitions. The touches to Erik’s arm or back lingered just a little bit more than they would if they were simply friends as did the times when their eyes met. He would steal kisses whenever he thought that they wouldn’t be caught. On the evenings that they didn’t play chess, he would choose a seat next to Erik on the couch rather than a seat on the opposite side of the room. This inevitably ended with a scant inch in between them as Charles had no concept of personal boundaries whatsoever. Erik wasn’t as bothered by it as he made out though; in fact he quite liked the fact that Charles was so comfortable with him. Charles would nestle as close to Erik as possible sharing the occasional kiss and would often murmur things, often terms of endearment that Erik was fairly confident were aimed towards him. Inevitably, when it came to retire for the evening Charles would stubbornly remain asleep meaning that Erik had to carry him upstairs to bed.

Tonight was one of those nights. Rather than playing chess, they had retired to the library after dinner for a drink and Charles had ended up sprawled all over Erik half-asleep. When Erik tried to wake him to go upstairs, an action that he knew was going to be futile even before he tried it, Charles simply grumbled and buried his face further into Erik’s neck. That was the signal to Erik that if he wanted a decent night’s sleep in a bed, he would have to carry Charles upstairs. It was easier said than done; it wasn’t that Charles was heavy, it was more a case of negotiating his way so that he didn’t knock Charles into anything. He walked into Charles’ bedroom and placed him gently on the bed, carefully stripping him of his clothing so that he wasn’t uncomfortable when he woke the next morning. Feeling slightly awkward and not wanting to presume that Charles wanted him to stay even though that was what he wanted, he leant down and pressed a soft kiss to Charles’ forehead. Before he could leave the room a hand wrapped around Erik’s wrist and when he turned back, Charles was looking up at him blearily through half-lidded eyes.

“Mmph, stay. Don’t go.”

“I’m not going anywhere. I’ll be back in a minute.” Almost overwhelming relief washed over Erik at Charles’ request.

Charles took Erik at his word and cuddled himself in the blankets, looking even younger than he was as Erik stripped himself of his clothes, leaving them in a pile on the floor. He climbed into the bed, a small smile gracing his lips as Charles automatically scooted closer, wrapping himself around Erik like a human octopus. It had been years since he had shared his bed, too preoccupied with other things, but he had never had a bed-partner like Charles before. Ever. In sleep, the other man was just as free with his affections as he was during the day. Erik had never met anyone like him full-stop. Even from their very first meeting Charles had called Erik ‘old friend’ and all the small touches that he was sure were insignificant to Charles, but to Erik were as far from insignificant as you could get. He ran a hand down the soft skin of Charles’ side to rest on the other man’s hip, holding his breath as Charles shifted but all he did was press closer to Erik and mumble something that Erik couldn’t quite make out.

He knew that he wasn’t going to be able to stay here in Westchester, to live in this little bubble, forever. He may have taken some time out from his mission to revenge his mother and kill Sebastian Shaw but that didn’t mean that that still wasn’t his goal. 

He thought about what he had referred to Charles as earlier, as a siren song and the connotations that term had. In mythology, the siren’s song had an appeal that was hard to resist but, if it was heeded, it would lead to dire consequences. Staying here in Westchester, staying with Charles, wouldn’t be a disaster. How could it be? The only consequence would be that he wouldn’t be able to fulfil his ambition of ridding the world of Sebastian Shaw although if he didn’t achieve that goal he would feel like he was failing his mama, more so than he already had. He had told Charles that peace was never an option and he fervently believed that, nothing Charles said to him would change that, could change that. It would be so easy to give in to the siren call of Charles, to give in to Charles and the prospect of a life here in Westchester, helping Charles to found his school. He could picture himself and Charles later in life, established here teaching the next generation of mutants and the thought caused warmth to bloom in his chest. But equally, he couldn’t give up on what had been his life’s work since escaping the camps. It had been his goal, his all-consuming focus, for such a long time that it had become part of him, a part of him that he couldn’t give up. Not even for Charles.

And therein lay the problem.

Because regardless of how much he loved Charles and he did love Charles, this was never going to be enough, that love was never going to be enough. Despite the whispered endearments in German and even the odd one in Polish and Hebrew that would slip out without Erik thinking about it, despite the ‘I love you’s’ that they had never voiced aloud but that Erik could hear in his mind and he knew that Charles could hear the same, he would walk away from this. Given the chance to kill Shaw, he would walk away from all of this in the morning regardless of how difficult it would be. Regardless of whom he would hurt in doing so.

Charles Xavier might be a siren call, but Erik had a strength of will that was as strong as the metal that he commanded, and he would walk away from all of this. He would walk away and ignore the lure of Westchester and Charles, regardless of the impact that his departure would have on Charles.

**Author's Note:**

> IDEK what I’m doing because I really didn’t need another fandom but what the hell… This is pre-divorce because I don’t think I could write post-beach (and I’m not convinced that I can write X-Men anyway). First time writing XMFC and I’ve only seen the film once so apologies if things aren’t right… This is unbeta-ed but my wonderful friend thedragonsinger has tried to convince me that it isn’t complete crap so feedback is very much appreciated.


End file.
